Psychoanalytic Aspects of Assisted Reproductive Technology

This book contributes in an important way to the psychoanalytic understanding and impact of Assisted Reproductive Technology on a majority of patients who have difficulties starting new families. Recent advances in reproductive technology and the increased use of techniques based upon it have created a need for psychoanalytic thinking and understanding of the psychological implications of Assisted reproductive procedures, in-vitro fertilization and other similar procedures.The recent and rapid advances in medical technologies confront us with a mandate in our clinical work to understand their complex impact on women, men, and children. However, attention to the intra psychic conflicts and traumatic experience of the use of such techniques has not been addressed in psychoanalytic literature. The developmental trauma and intra psychic conflicts of individuals using reproductive technologies are ubiquitous, yet it has been neglected as a topic of special interest in our clinical work.The centerpiece of these collective chapters deal with psychic trauma of infertility, the compulsion to repeat through persistent repeated use of assisted reproductive technology, anxiety about motherhood, and finally the lives of children who are born and do not know from where they came.These poignant topics deal with family complexes and the Oedipal circle, repetition compulsion, trials and failures, anxiety related to motherhood, egg and sperm donors, parental identity formation, infertility, trauma, and discussion of a contemporary film depicting the challenging and newly defined family structure.

Table of Contents:
Introduction -- Clinical Perspectives -- Psychoanalytic understanding of repeated in-vitro fertilisation trials, failures, and repetition compulsion -- Family complexes and oedipal circles: mothers, fathers, babies, donors, and surrogates -- Psychoanalytic treatment of anxiety related to motherhood and the use of assisted reproductive technology -- Egg donors and sperm donors: parental identity formation -- Infertility, trauma, and assisted reproductive technology: psychoanalytic perspectives -- Conclusion -- Assisted reproduction as explored in the Kids Are All Right

About the Author :
Mali Mann, MD, is on the faculty of the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, where she serves as a training and supervising psychoanalyst. She is also a clinical Professor, Adjunct at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, where she is a member of the Pegasus Physicians writing group. She is a faculty member and supervisor at San Mateo county psychiatry residency Program. She currently serves as the Co-Chair for the North American Committee of Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis. She teaches and supervises candidates at Palo Alto Psychoanalytic psychotherapy training program. She has authored several chapters and psychoanalytic papers, and has served on several local, and national psychoanalytic committees. Her interests focus on identity formation, immigrant children and mothers, shame dynamic, aggression in clinical setting and applied psychoanalysis in orphanages and school system. In addition, she has a special interest in maternal development and immigrant motherhood, and holds a member in the American Society of Reproductive Medicine.

Review :
'This book provides a thoughtful and in-depth consideration of the psychological and psychoanalytic issues in assisted reproductive technology. It offers theoretical understanding, detailed clinical presentations of individual cases, a review of family aspects, a discussion of the implications of the entrance of the medical system and the doctor into the sexual relationship of the couple, and a chapter on the treatment of anxiety about motherhood. It fills a real need for more knowledge about this important topic.'- Malkah Tolpin Notman, MD, Psychiatry Clinical Professor, Harvard School of Medicine; Psychoanalyst, Boston Psychoanalytic Institute'This is an important and original book, inspiring further in-depth exploration of the complex implications in this burgeoning field. Dr Mann has brought together experts in the field, all of whom offer moving case histories of mothers as well as of the children impacted by assisted reproductive technology. This book encompasses sociology (why women postpone the decision), psychoanalytic insights (especially regarding the mother's relationship with her own mother and the child's fantasies about the unknown parent), and the sometimes traumatic effect of the failure to conceive on the couple's future development.'- Axel Hoffer, MD, Training and Supervising Analyst, PINE Psychoanalytic Center; Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School